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Name:
Fort Loudon
Region:
Hershey/Gettysburg/Dutch Country Region
County:
Franklin
Marker Location:
Center of Fort Loudon, Old Lincoln Hwy. (SR 4002)
Dedication Date:
October 20, 1915
Behind the Marker
Fort Loudon was one of the stockaded posts built by Pennsylvania in 1756, to fortify its western communities against hostile Indians. It replaced a fortification at nearby McDowell's Mill and was named for Lord Loudon, commander-in-chief of the British army in North America in 1756-57.
Initially, Pennsylvania militiamen garrisoned Fort Loudon. In June 1758, British troops occupied it as they started construction on the Forbes Road. Along with
Fort Lyttelton, it was one of the provincial forts converted into a link in the supply and communication chain for the Forbes Expedition as it slowly moved west.
The British hosted some negotiations with potential Cherokee allies there during the summer of 1758, but the Indians grew tired of the army's slow progress toward the Ohio Country and headed home. DuringPontiac's Rebellion (1763-64), British troops used Fort Loudon as a base and continued to do so until late 1765.
In 1765, a mob known as the "Black Boys" sacked a wagon train at Fort Loudon that was loaded with goods intended for the Indian trade at Fort Pitt. The mob was venting its rage against eastern merchants, whom they accused of supplying the goods that the Ohio Indians had used during Pontiac's Rebellion to wage war against Pennsylvania's frontier communities. Like the Paxton Boys' raid on theConestoga Indian Town (Plaque) a year earlier, The Black Boys episode illustrated the ugly tensions that the Seven Years' War had exposed between the predominantly Scots-Irish population of western Pennsylvania and the wealthier, more politically powerful Quakers in the east.
Initially, Pennsylvania militiamen garrisoned Fort Loudon. In June 1758, British troops occupied it as they started construction on the Forbes Road. Along with
Fort Lyttelton, it was one of the provincial forts converted into a link in the supply and communication chain for the Forbes Expedition as it slowly moved west.
Fort Loudon, indicated on this map in red, was erected by Colonel John Armstrong
The British hosted some negotiations with potential Cherokee allies there during the summer of 1758, but the Indians grew tired of the army's slow progress toward the Ohio Country and headed home. During
Pontiac's Rebellion (1763-64), British troops used Fort Loudon as a base and continued to do so until late 1765. In 1765, a mob known as the "Black Boys" sacked a wagon train at Fort Loudon that was loaded with goods intended for the Indian trade at Fort Pitt. The mob was venting its rage against eastern merchants, whom they accused of supplying the goods that the Ohio Indians had used during Pontiac's Rebellion to wage war against Pennsylvania's frontier communities. Like the Paxton Boys' raid on the
Conestoga Indian Town (Plaque) a year earlier, The Black Boys episode illustrated the ugly tensions that the Seven Years' War had exposed between the predominantly Scots-Irish population of western Pennsylvania and the wealthier, more politically powerful Quakers in the east.